A man from Nanjing, China, built his own dialysis machine to keep himself alive for 13 years, after he couldn’t afford to receive proper hospital care.
Hu Songwen was diagnosed with renal failure, in 1993. From that point on, he was forced to visit the hospital every six days, a treatment that cost him $80 per visit. He and his family managed for six years, until all their savings were exhausted. That’s when he built his own dialysis machine, using only a textbook, kitchen equipment and medical supplies. ”When I told the doctors what I was doing, they said I was crazy,” he said, but his homemade contraption has kept him alive for the last 13 years, at a fraction of the hospital costs. He spent an initial $800 on a pump, after failed attempts to make his own, and now each dialysis session costs him around $10 in filters and chemicals. ”The most important part of the machine is the filter, and I can use each one eight times. A new filter costs $16, while a proper medical machine can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds” Hu said.
“As long as you have a high school degree, understand the principle of dialysis, follow the operational instructions and keep a close watch during the process, nothing should go wrong,” Hu said. He did mention two friends have died after using similar homemade dialysis machines, but that has never deterred him from continuing the self-administered treatment.
His invention works as an external kidney. It’s made up of two compartments separated by a membrane filter that allows only some particles to get through The machine is connected to his arm via a couple of tubes; the bad blood goes out through one tube, and enters his body through the other, after it was filtered. The dialysis fluid by mixing potassium chloride, sodium chloride and sodium hydrogen carbonate (bicarbonate) into purified water.
Hu Songwen was diagnosed with renal failure, in 1993. From that point on, he was forced to visit the hospital every six days, a treatment that cost him $80 per visit. He and his family managed for six years, until all their savings were exhausted. That’s when he built his own dialysis machine, using only a textbook, kitchen equipment and medical supplies. ”When I told the doctors what I was doing, they said I was crazy,” he said, but his homemade contraption has kept him alive for the last 13 years, at a fraction of the hospital costs. He spent an initial $800 on a pump, after failed attempts to make his own, and now each dialysis session costs him around $10 in filters and chemicals. ”The most important part of the machine is the filter, and I can use each one eight times. A new filter costs $16, while a proper medical machine can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds” Hu said.
“As long as you have a high school degree, understand the principle of dialysis, follow the operational instructions and keep a close watch during the process, nothing should go wrong,” Hu said. He did mention two friends have died after using similar homemade dialysis machines, but that has never deterred him from continuing the self-administered treatment.
His invention works as an external kidney. It’s made up of two compartments separated by a membrane filter that allows only some particles to get through The machine is connected to his arm via a couple of tubes; the bad blood goes out through one tube, and enters his body through the other, after it was filtered. The dialysis fluid by mixing potassium chloride, sodium chloride and sodium hydrogen carbonate (bicarbonate) into purified water.
